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240180 SE Cultures of Alaska (P3) (2014W)

Continuous assessment of course work

Participation at first session is obligatory! The course is a regular seminar AND preparation for a field practicum to Alaska in the summer semester 2015. Potential participants in the field practicum are strongly encouraged to participate. At the same time, you can participate in the seminar without planning to join the field practicum.

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 13.10. 15:00 - 18:15 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 27.10. 15:00 - 18:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 17.11. 15:00 - 18:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Monday 15.12. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Monday 12.01. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Monday 26.01. 15:00 - 18:15 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Most of the course will have seminar character. It will contain an introduction to past and present cultural configurations of Alaska, including indigenous and non-indigenous groups and life-ways. Sufficient time will be reserved for student presentations and discussions.

Assessment and permitted materials

A mandatory seminar paper will count for 50% of the grade. Short oral presentations will make up 20% of the grade; likewise one internet research presentation will count for 20% as well. The remaining 10% will be determined by course participation.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Images of the impacts of climate change - from drowning polar bears to eroding Native villages - have dominated the media coverage of Alaska in recent years. At the same time, one must not forget that Alaska is one of the richest states of the USA, largely characterized by an "American way of life". This seminar intends to convey the cultural diversity of Alaska's past and present. Colonial history - starting with the Russian period - will receive some coverage, while prehistory will not be dealt with in any detail. The interaction of indigenous and non-indigenous societies will be a central theme of the course.

Examination topics

Seminar with some lecture elements.

Reading list

Select recent literature

Dombrowski, Kirk

2001_Against Culture: Development, Politics, and Religion in Indian Alaska. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Haycox, Stephen

2002_Alaska: An American Colony. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Jones, Preston

2007_Empire's Edge: American Society in Nome, Alaska, 1898-1934. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.

Lovecraft, Amy Lauren, and Hajo Eicken, eds.

2011_North by 2020: Perspectives on Alaska?s Changing Social-Ecological Systems. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.

Miller, Gwenn A.

2010_Kodiak Kreol: Communities of Empire in Early Russian America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Olson, Wallace M.

2002_Through Spanish Eyes: Spanish Voyages to Alaska, 1774-1792. Auke Bay, AK: Heritage Research.

Ott, Riki

2005_Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Cordova, AK: Dragonfly Sisters Press.

Reedy-Maschner, Katherine L.

2010_Aleut Identities: Tradition and Modernity in an Indigenous Fishery. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Schneider, William S.

2012_On Time Delivery: The Dog Team Mail Carriers. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.

Thornton, Thomas F.

2008_Being and Place Among the Tlingit. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Vinkovetsky, Ilya

2011_Russian America: An Overseas Colony of a Continental Empire, 1804-1867. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wohlforth, Charles

2004_The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change. New York: North Point Press.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:39